Kristen Miguel has been patiently biding her time, waiting for an opportunity like this to come around.

The Mililani volleyball player learned much playing alongside the likes of former standouts Sarah Liva, Jordan Keamo and Ashlee Vaoifi last year, but with the trio now departed due to graduation, Miguel has become the Trojans' go-to player in 2014.

Miguel put down a match-high nine kills in a sweep of Kapolei Tuesday night, which helped her team improve to 2-0 on the young season to keep pace with the leaders in the Oahu Interscholastic Association's Western Division.

After transitioning from middle blocker to outside hitter this year, the 5-foot-11 senior has become more and more comfortable with each match that passes.

"She's getting there," Mililani coach Val Crabbe said of Miguel. "I give her credit because her whole high school career really she's been in the middle, so having to adjust her approach to outside hitter is big. When you're in the middle you have to keep coming quick, so initially she was always there before the ball. We had to slow her down once she moved to the outside but she's adjusted really well to that."

Miguel displayed a multitude of shots in her arsenal against Kapolei Tuesday. She hit several balls down the line, a few off high hands and even cut a tough angle when the Hurricanes' block adjusted tighter to the pin.

"Moving to the outside is definitely an honor for me," Miguel said. "I wanted to play on the outside the whole time, but I think that I've definitely improved myself. Being on the outside is more of a grand opportunity for me, so I'm really thankful for that."

Midway through game two, Miguel seemed to take over the match, putting away several thunderous kills to end a few long rallies.

Miguel was quick to credit the Trojans' passers — namely libero Kayla Magbaleta — and setter, Hope Carter.

Crabbe said that the Trojans are still a work in progress after losing a talented senior class last year.

"You don't replace players like a group like that, but you've just go to keep going and coach another group," Crabbe said. "It was nice coaching them, but I think a lot of the schools lost a lot of players, so we're all kind of in the same boat. We're trying to build with a new group of girls, but this is probably the tallest group of girls that I've ever had."

Miguel isn't worried about trying to fill the shoes of a player like Liva, who was inducted into the Hawaii High School Hall of Honor last June and is now at Portland State.

"Even though they left the returnees have stepped up and we did replace them, but we replaced them with our own play and I feel that we can be even greater than we were last year," Miguel said. "I definitely think our team has developed so much already this season and we're only going to continue to get better."